Noble metal nanoparticles have been extensively studied to understand and apply their plasmonic responses, upon coupling with electromagnetic radiation, to research areas such as sensing, photocatalysis, electronics, and biomedicine. The plasmonic properties of metal nanoparticles can change significantly with changes in particle size, shape, composition, and arrangement. Thus, stabilization of the fabricated nanoparticles is crucial for preservation of the desired plasmonic behavior. Because plasmonic nanoparticles find application in diverse fields, a variety of different stabilization strategies have been developed. Often, stabilizers also function to enhance or improve the plasmonic properties of the nanoparticles. This review provides a representative overview of how gold and silver nanoparticles, the most frequently used materials in current plasmonic applications, are stabilized in different application platforms and how the stabilizing agents improve their plasmonic properties at the same time. Specifically, this review focuses on the roles and effects of stabilizing agents such as surfactants, silica, biomolecules, polymers, and metal shells in colloidal nanoparticle suspensions. Stability strategies for other types of plasmonic nanomaterials, lithographic plasmonic nanoparticle arrays, are discussed as well. CONTENTS 1. Introduction 664 2. Synthesis of Ag and AuNPs and Stabilization with Adsorbed/Covalently Attached Ligands in Solution Phase 666 2.1. Theoretical Background of Colloidal Stability of the Plasmonic Nanoparticles 667 2.2.

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Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) have great potential as sustainable reinforcing materials for polymers, but there are a number of obstacles to commercialization that must first be overcome. High levels of water absorption, low thermal stabilities, poor miscibility with nonpolar polymers, and irreversible aggregation of the dried CNCs are among the greatest challenges to producing cellulose nanocrystal-polymer nanocomposites. A simple, scalable technique to modify sulfated cellulose nanocrystals (Na-CNCs) has been developed to address all of these issues. By using an ion exchange process to replace Na with imidazolium or phosphonium cations, the surface energy is altered, the thermal stability is increased, and the miscibility of dried CNCs with a nonpolar polymer (epoxy and polystyrene) is enhanced. Characterization of the resulting ion exchanged CNCs (IE-CNCs) using potentiometry, inverse gas chromatography, dynamic vapor sorption, and laser scanning confocal microscopy reveals that the IE-CNCs have lower surface energies, adsorb less water, and have thermal stabilities of up to 100 °C higher than those of prepared protonated cellulose nanocrystals (H-CNCs) and 40 °C higher than that of neutralized Na-CNC. Methyl(triphenyl)phosphonium exchanged cellulose nanocrystals (MePhP-CNC) adsorbed 30% less water than Na-CNC, retained less water during desorption, and were used to prepare well-dispersed epoxy composites without the aid of a solvent and well-dispersed polystyrene nanocomposites using a melt blending technique at 195 °C. Predictions of dispersion quality and glass transition temperatures from molecular modeling experiments match experimental observations. These fiber-reinforced polymers can be used as lightweight composites in transportation, infrastructure, and renewable energy applications.

Research at the interface of synthetic materials, biochemistry, and analytical techniques has enabled sensing platforms for applications across many research communities. Herein we review the materials used as affinity agents to create surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) sensors. Our scope includes those affinity agents (antibody, aptamer, small molecule, and polymer) that facilitate the intrinsic detection of targets relevant to biology, medicine, national security, environmental protection, and food safety. We begin with an overview of the analytical technique (SERS) and considerations for its application as a sensor. We subsequently describe four classes of affinity agents, giving a brief overview on affinity, production, attachment chemistry, and first uses with SERS. Additionally, we review the SERS features of the affinity agents, and the analytes detected by intrinsic SERS with that affinity agent class. We conclude with remarks on affinity agent selection for intrinsic SERS sensing platforms.

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